The Think Tank
We are around 2 months away from substantial completion of the project. I will talk more about substantial completion in the coming weeks, but technically it is the point in the project when the Owner (i.e. Client) can take beneficial occupancy of the facility. We are down to the time of doting “I’s” and crossing “T’s.”
So, some of the I’s and T’s we need to check are where the Contractor is in their LEED due diligence for getting all the needed certification points that fall into their court. So we had a team meeting at FSB’s office to see where we all stood. The Think Tank assembled around the table is:
Flintco (contractor)
- Mark Knowlton – Project Manager
- Carolina Cunningham – Flintco LEED Consultant with Scott and Reid GC
FSB (architects-engineers-planners)
- Fred Schmidt – Project Principal
- Jason Holuby – Project Manager
- Lowe Runkle – Project Architect and Construction Administrator
- Naby Gharajeh – Electrical Engineer
- Rebel Smith – Mechanical Engineer
FSB has in our project specifications a section dedicated to communicating the project LEED needs to the construction team; Section 018113.13 Sustainable Design Requirements – LEED for New Construction and Major Renovation. It guides the contractor, subcontractors and suppliers through the requirements, standards and executing the plan. Major content includes:
- Definitions
- Administrative Requirements
- Action Submittals
- Informational Submittals
- Quality Control
- Recycled Content
- Regional Materials
- Certified Wood
- Low Emitting Materials
- Measurement and Certification
- Construction Indoor Air Quality Management
Feel free to dig into the document and get a greater understanding of what each of these mean.
There are 2 documents we are back checking; the FSB LEED Scorecard and the GBCI LEED Online Credit Scorecard. The current version of each is uploaded for viewing. The GBCI Scorecard is the one that outlines responsibilities for documenting the credits online (if you remember the hammers and crayons).
The following are the major ones that fall into the contractor’s court:
Materials and Resources
- Credit C2 Construction Waste Management; this is looking good. Construction waste is being shipped to a Tulsa recycling center that sorts the waste from the dumpsters.
- Credit C4 Recycled Content; see C5
- Credit C5 Regional Materials; Carolina indicated from her experience that getting both of these points is a challenge as you usually get one or the other.
- Credit C6 Rapidly Renewable Materials; we don’t think we have enough items to get this credit
- Credit C7 Certified Wood; we should be good on this one
Indoor Environmental Quality
- Credit 3.1 Construction Indoor Air Quality Management Plan-During Construction; this is looking good
- Credit 3.2 Construction Indoor Air Quality Management Plan-Before Construction; we had not planned on this one
- Credit 4.1 Low Emitting Materials-Adhesives and Sealants; see 4.4
- Credit 4.2 Low Emitting Materials-Paints and Sealants; see 4.4
- Credit 4.3 Low Emitting Materials- Flooring Systems; see 4.4
- Credit 4.4 Low Emitting Materials-Composite Wood and Agrifiber Products; the contractor is confident that we will get all of the 4.1 thru 4.4 credits
There are other credits on the list that have a hammer symbol next to them, but FSB is taking responsibility for getting some of the information online.
We have been checking FSB’s progress over the past few weeks as well. The most current FSB Scorecard is uploaded “here.” While thinking we had lost ground on the points and were dangerously close to only having 61 credits, we are back up to 66 anticipated points; 6 points over the minimum of 60 for LEED Gold. We have jacked up Energy and Atmosphere Credit C1 to 14 points and we have regained the IEQ Increased Ventilation Credit C2. You will see on the GBCI Scorecard that there a greater number of green checkmarks on the form meaning that we have been doing a lot of work uploading information to the online site.
It’s not over, however, until the GBCI goes through the online submission and verifies in their estimation whether you have satisfied the requirements for each submitted credit. Invariably, some credits are in contention which is why you need a buffer of extra points over the minimum.
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Design Matters 